


Searing Cold Kisses

by chicago_ruth



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Comfort, Huddling For Warmth, Hypothermia, Kissing, M/M, Trapped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22600006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chicago_ruth/pseuds/chicago_ruth
Summary: Prompto does not want to freeze to death, trapped in a cave with Ardyn.Ardyn just likes to troll people.
Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Ardyn Izunia
Comments: 10
Kudos: 104
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Searing Cold Kisses

“This is an interesting dilemma.” Ardyn didn’t sound particularly worried, only amused.

Prompto glared at him from his position against the far wall. He had his arms wrapped around himself, trying to stave off some of the cold, but it didn’t do all that much. The cave was damp, and dark, and borderline freezing.

If Prompto had known the cave was this deep, he would have brought his coat along. But he hadn’t realized just how far down it went, and the mouth of the cave was deceptively warm and humid. He figured there had to be a natural hot spring or some sort of geothermal well.

Turned out, the cave was just out to trick him. Or maybe it was Ardyn’s plan all along; leaving clues as to his whereabouts and luring Prompto in, so he could cause the damn rockslide that had them both trapped here.

“Can’t you get us out?” Prompto demanded. “You’ve got magic, don’t you?”

“It doesn’t work like that. I am immortal, yes, and I have domain over illusions and whatnot. I cannot simply make rock disappear, however.” Ardyn bowed dramatically, although a lot of the effect was lost in the dark. “Now, if you would like me to take on the form of somebody you hold dear, to give you comfort as you slowly starve or freeze to death, I am happy to do that.”

“No!” Prompto shouted, too loud and too obvious. Even his shitty flashlight caught Ardyn’s grin. “No, stay the way you are.”

“Why, thank you! My mother always said, a relationship where you can’t be yourself won’t go anywhere.” Ardyn pulled another rock out of the collapsed wall, but all that did was bring more rubble into their little bubble of a cave.

Prompto shivered again, then took out his camera. If he was going to die here, he wanted there to be a record of what happened. He attached his strongest flash and snapped a pic of Ardyn, somewhat gratified when it resulted in a shot of Ardyn mid-blink. It was a horrible picture of him.

Good.

He got a shot of the rubble too, and all the confines of the cave. The next time he caught Ardyn, Ardyn has his fingers up in a little V-sign, as if they were just hanging out at a tourist destination.

“You could be doing something to get us out,” Prompto snapped at him.

“Aww, are you grumpy?” Ardyn crouched down, resting his elbows on his knees. “Are you hungry, perhaps? I hear mortals get angry when they’re hungry. _Hangry_. That’s a word the kids these days are using, correct?”

“Grumpy? I’m cold, I’m tired, I’m hungry, yes, and I’m trapped in a small cave with the person who is causing the entire world to fall into darkness. Gee, I wonder why I’m not in the best mood.”

“Well, we can solve one of those things.” Ardyn got up again and began taking his coat off. “No need to be cold. Although you might have prevented this by not running around in sleeveless shirts.” He held the coat out to Prompto, and it took way too long for Prompto to figure out what he wanted.

He was giving his coat to Prompto to wear.

“No. No, I don’t want your stinking coat.” Prompto pushed the hand away.

“That’s hurtful,” Ardyn said, giving an exaggerated pout. “I’m trying to help you.”

“Aren’t you worried at all? You can’t die, but you’ll be trapped here for who knows how long? In the dark, alone, nobody to talk to—” Prompto could feel his body tensing up just at the thought of it.

Ardyn tossed the coat at him and said, “Yes. That would be simply terrible. Trapped, unmoving, in one location for thousands of years. The world passing by, advancing, generations dying and being reborn, with only your own thoughts to keep you company. Truly, torture of the highest order. A man might go mad under those conditions.”

Was Ardyn trying to make Prompto feel bad for him? Because in Ardyn’s scenario, Prompto would already be _dead_.

Now that Prompto had Ardyn’s coat in his hands, though, he realized there was no point in not wearing it if it delayed the inevitable. It would give Ignis and Gladio a bit extra time to find him, assuming they’d received his distress call. Communications services were so spotty these days.

So he put on Ardyn’s coat, which was at least two sizes too large for him, but at least it was warm, and it actually didn’t smell of anything.

“As I thought. It suits you. Was that so bad?”

Prompto rolled his eyes. “Don’t think I’m gonna thank you. And it only suits me if you like _hobo chique_.”

“I’ll have you know, I found that coat in a high end boutique.” Ardyn went back to his corner of the cave and sat down. “The store clerk assured me that I looked fabulous in it.”

“They were lying. This coat is at least thirty years out of style.” Prompto fumbled with his phone and checked, again, to see if he had reception—but of course he still didn’t. Maybe he should turn the phone off to conserve its battery in case he did get out.

“I got the coat thirty years ago. It’s _vintage_.” Ardyn laughed, which started Prompto into looking up at him.

It wasn’t the first time that Prompto thought it was a shame that Ardyn was the worst, because he was actually kind of hot. It pissed Prompto off so much that Ardyn was attractive, just the sort of guy Prompto went for when he wasn’t fighting daemons or helping survivors.

Prompto had been a bit easy, maybe. With Iggy and Gladio doing their own thing and Noctis trapped in the crystal, Prompto sometimes yearned for companionship—any companionship—and he’d fallen into some bad habits. But when the world was ending, it was natural for people to find comfort where they could, right? Who cared if you actually liked the other party.

Wait. Prompto realized what he’d been thinking, and mentally kicked himself. No, he wasn’t going to fuck Ardyn. Even if he was in the process of dying of hunger or thirst or cold and the last person he ever saw was Ardyn. He was not going to sleep with his worst enemy.

“Can’t you summon daemons or something to dig us out?” Prompto demanded quickly, to distract himself from his other thoughts.

“Not really. There’s no room in here.” Ardyn leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “What if we play a game?”

“A game?” As if they weren’t in a bad enough situation already. Prompto remembered Ardyn’s _game_ when they’d been on the train to Tenebrae. The memory of Noctis attacking him still haunted him, even though he knew now that it was all Ardyn’s trickery.

“Nothing bad. Twenty questions! I ask you a question, you ask me one.” Ardyn tipped his hat at Prompto. “I promise to answer honestly. You might be able to get some important secrets out of me.”

What the hell. Prompto wanted to tell Ardyn to shut up, but the brief silences he’d already experienced actually creeped him out even more than Ardyn’s constant talking, so he grit his teeth and said, “Fine.”

“Wonderful! I’ll go first. If you hadn’t been picked as a Crownsguard, what would you be doing with your life?”

If he hadn’t been…? Prompto couldn’t even imagine his life outside of the Crownsguard, a life without Noctis or Iggy or Gladio. “I don’t know. Maybe a photogr—"

“Wait, silly me. You’d probably have been discovered as a Nif and been sent right back to us, and then we’d have reprogrammed you into a foot soldier.”

Prompto went stock still while Ardyn laughed cruelly. It wasn’t a joke. Prompto could imagine it clearly—being taken, strapped to Verstael’s machines, being tortured until he broke and was nothing more than a monster like the rest of them.

“No, no, I jest.” Ardyn twirled his hat on his finger. “Your turn. Ask a question.”

“What kind of a sick monster are you?” Prompto blurt out. “You can’t even pretend to be nice for five minutes?”

“Those are two questions. But I’ll answer them: I’m Ardyn Lucis Caelum, the first of the Caelum line. I think you knew that already, so it’s a bit of a wasted question.” Ardyn’s hat fell to the ground. “And you said you wanted me as I am! I am being my true self, just for you.”

Prompto was going to go crazy before he died, he was sure of it. He sat down and wrapped his arms around his legs, using the large coat to trap the heat inside himself. Maybe if he weren’t so cold, or if his stomach weren’t starting to protest, he’d be able to deal with Ardyn more easily.

“My turn, then. If you could have any meal in the world right now, what would it be?”

Warm potato stew, prepared by Ignis. But Prompto didn’t feel like giving Ardyn what he wanted, so he didn’t say anything.

His lack of response didn’t seem to bother Ardyn. “Something cooked by Ignis, I assume. Poor fellow goes blind, and you still make him do all the menial chores. Your turn.”

It he didn’t know it was pointless, Prompto would have shot Ardyn. Except he didn’t want to waste all of his bullets, he didn’t want to risk getting hit by a ricochet, and he definitely didn’t want to watch Ardyn get right back up as if the wound was nothing.

“Nothing? All right, I’ll ask for you. Ardyn, if you weren’t destroying the world, what would you be doing now?” Ardyn pretended to think about the answer. “I think I’d run a hat store.”

“What?” Prompto gave him an incredulous look. “A hat store?”

“Yes! I love hats. For a while I collected them.” Ardyn picked up his hat and set it on his head again. “Beanies and fedoras and festival hats! And large, sparkly ones, bedecked in jewels.”

The implication of that was clear; Prompto grit his teeth and refused to fall for Ardyn’s goading. No way would he ever allow Ardyn to wear a crown.

It was actually getting really cold, though. From one moment to the next, he realized he couldn’t move his fingers that well anymore. Even Ardyn’s coat wasn’t doing much to keep the damp from seeping straight into his bones. When he breathed, he saw a small cloud escape.

If Iggy and Gladio could just hurry up already…

“You look a bit pale, Prompto.” Ardyn’s tone was nothing but fake concern. “Are you cold?”

“Yes, I’m cold!” Prompto snapped. “If you haven’t noticed, we’re deep underground without any light or source of heat.”

“Still hangry too, I see.” Ardyn stood up and crossed the short distance between them. “It wouldn’t do to have you expire here, though. Let me help you.”

“Leave me alone.” Prompto tried to scoot away, but there really was nowhere to go. Just this tiny little cave.

“No, no. I can’t even imagine what Ignis and Gladiolus would do to me if they found me next to your corpse. I think they’d never forgive me.” Ardyn wrapped an arm around Prompto’s shoulder, which Prompto couldn’t shake off no matter how hard he tried.

It was really hard to move his body at all, which should have bothered Prompto. He was too cold to really care anymore though. Ardyn’s was warmer than he expected, and he found himself leaning into the strange embrace.

“Oh dear. It seems you’re doing much worse than I thought.” Ardyn took hold of Prompto’s chin and tilted it upward, forcing Prompto to meet his eyes.

Yeah, Ardyn was kind of hot if he didn’t think about everything the man had done.

“Why are you such a bastard?” Prompto asked. “You don’t have to do any of this.”

“Every man needs hobbies.” Ardyn leaned closer, his breath surprisingly warm. “You could join my side instead. I promise you, it’s more fun than attempting to stop a dam from overflowing. You can’t prevent the eternal night. But you could be a part of it, enjoying all the luxuries that come with serving me.”

Even with his body near frozen, Prompto knew he didn’t want any of that. He shook his head. “No. Noctis is gonna come back. He’s going to stop you.”

“What a shame. You are quite pretty, when I pretend you aren’t in league with the line of Lucis. Exactly the way I used to like them. Blond. Young. Skinny.”

“What did the royal family ever do to you, anyway?” Prompto’s teeth chattered as he spoke. He tried to flex his fingers, but they were stiff and uncooperative.

“The usual. Mine is a tragic tale of betrayal, power hungry rivals, and petty gods. But never mind that.” Ardyn laughed suddenly and settled his chin on Prompto’s head. If anybody saw them now, they’d probably think that Ardyn and Prompto were lovers.

It was a good thing there was nobody around to take photos.

“Oh, I have an idea. Let’s take a selfie!” Ardyn fondled Prompto’s torso, running his hands up and down. Prompto yelped and tried to protest, but then Ardyn held out a phone. “I knew it was in there. I hope I didn’t give you the wrong idea.”

Was there a right idea? Prompto was pretty sure that Ardyn was messing with him. Ardyn extended his arm for the shot, and while Prompto tried to muster the energy to move away, Ardyn kissed his cheek. That was when the camera flash went off.

“Do you want to see?” Ardyn held the camera screen up to him. The picture was terrible: Ardyn kissing Prompto with a grin on his face, with Prompto looking only a step away from a frozen popsicle.

“I don’t want to die,” Prompto said, quietly. “And I really don’t want to die here, with _you_.”

Ardyn placed the camera back into the coat pocket, only this time his hands stayed on Prompto’s chest. “Again with the hurtful words. I did offer to let you die with somebody else. You refused.” But then Ardyn sighed loudly. “I suppose it would be boring if you died here. Noctis’s reaction would be delightful, but I think I’d prefer to see his expression when I kill you in front of his eyes.”

Prompto didn’t really get what Ardyn was getting at. He just knew that the points of contact between them were warm—hot, even. Ardyn’s fingers seemed to burn where they touched Prompto, even through the clothes.

Maybe Prompto was being too picky, not wanting to die with Ardyn. Because he realized he didn’t want to die alone either, and those searing touches lit something inside him that made the situation feel less terrible.

With stiff limbs, Prompto shifted around and angled his face upwards. He noticed Ardyn’s surprised expression, though it was gone quickly, and then Ardyn met Prompto’s lips. Nothing about the kiss was normal: Prompto could barely feel his face, but connection with Ardyn could have been Ifrit’s touch. It was too much and not enough all at once.

Prompto started shivering uncontrollably again, his muscles and bones hurting, but he didn’t want to stop kissing either.

It was Ardyn who pulled away though, with a strange smile on his face. “That was very interesting. I would love to continue, but I think it wouldn’t do for them to find me here.”

“Th-them?” Prompto’s mind was too fuzzy to understand.

Ardyn let go of Prompto and stood up. “It has been very fun. Give my regards to everybody. When the eternal night comes, I might keep you alive and let you serve me.”

Prompto blinked stupidly as Ardyn disappeared from in front of his eyes. So Ardyn had never been trapped in the first place?

It was too much to think about. Prompto closed his eyes.

* * *

“Prompto! Wake up!”

Prompto woke with a start, Gladio’s strong arms shaking him. “Huh?”

“Oh, thank the astrals you’re alive.” Gladio bent down and lifted Promptop up, bridal style, which should have been embarrassing but Prompto didn’t have the energy to protest. As they got closer to the surface, he started shivering harder, and the air outside the cave was practically scalding, never mind that it was dark out.

Iggy stood by a campfire, and he was cooking a stew of some sort. He lifted his head up as they approached. “You found him?”

“Yeah. He’s definitely got hypothermia though. I’ll put him near the fire and get the sleeping bags for him.”

“Don’t warm him too quickly,” Iggy warned.

Prompto just smiled as the two of them coddled him.

It wasn’t until the next morning, after a very warm rest, that he remembered what had happened.

He’d kissed Ardyn. Maybe? Hopefully not. He looked around the tent and didn’t see Ardyn’s coat—just his own winter coat, which he was pretty sure he hadn’t been wearing. He found his camera and started going through the pictures, wincing at the pain of moving his fingers.

He got to the pictures of the cave-in, along with Ardyn’s awkward face. Prompto quickly deleted both of those photos.

So that hadn’t been a hallucination after all. But he’d been pretty cold later on. And that wasn’t Ardyn’s coat lying in the corner, it was Prompto’s. Neither Gladio nor Iggy had even mentioned Ardyn last night, not that he could remember.

Prompto frowned and pulled the coat over, fumbling through the pockets. His cheeks heated as he remembered Ardyn fondling him. And sure enough, he found a phone in the inside pocket—and it was definitely not his own phone.

With shaky hands he opened up the pictures folder. There were selfies of Ardyn in various places, wearing different hats. If this were anybody else, Prompto would have thought they were fun pics.

At the very end of the folder were three pics with Prompto. One of Ardyn kissing Prompto’s cheek. One of the two of them hugging. And one of Prompto passed out against the cave wall. In all of them, Prompto was wearing Ardyn’s coat.

Prompto’s finger hovered over the delete button.

He didn’t delete the pictures. He stuck the phone back into the inner pocket of the coat and went back to sleep.

He’d worry about all of it later. Or never.


End file.
